► From WFSE — File for unemployment benefits now — In the event of a shutdown, state employees can file for unemployment benefits if no state budget is passed by June 30 and they are temporarily laid off as a result.

► In today’s Seattle Times — Washington lawmakers, this is no way to run a state (editorial) — Lawmakers have had years to work this out. It is an embarrassment that just days until a possible government shutdown, the public has no real idea what is happening behind closed doors.

► In today’s Yakima H-R — Firefighters worry 500-acre Wenas blaze just the beginning — The cause of the Wenas fire was not immediately known. But with the warm weather forecast for the weekend, the sale of fireworks and a landscape of thick and dry vegetation, Yakima Valley firefighters say they’re concerned about more wildfires to come.

► In today’s Seattle Times — Seattle’s minimum wage: The plot thickens (by Jon Talton) — Even if the Seattle wage “works” for many low-wage employees, and is profitable politics here, it is no substitute for progressive taxation, strong unions, public investments to create jobs, abundant quality education and job training. No substitute for a national consensus that frowns on imperial executive compensation, stripping companies for parts, and treating workers like commodities to be shed.

TRUMPCARE TRUMPCUT

► In today’s NY Times — Vote delayed amid GOP disarray on health care bill — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell postponed the vote as he works to corral support, dealing another setback to Republicans and setting up a long summer of health care battles.

► In today’s Spokesman-Review — Health care bills imperil regional economy (editorial) — Bottom line: The Senate bill isn’t much better (than the House’s), causing 22 million Americans to lose coverage over the next decade. The loss of coverage would also mean the loss of jobs in health-related fields. About 20 percent of jobs in the region are connected to health care.

► In today’s Washington Post — The GOP health-care plan threatens to kill jobs nationwide — It would reduce the country’s Medicaid spending by $772 billion over the next decade. That could shut down nursing homes across the country, health-care leaders argue, and trigger widespread layoffs in one of the nation’s fastest-growing fields of employment.

► In today’s Seattle Times — GOP health bill: Big tax cuts for rich, not much for others — Millionaires would get tax cuts averaging $52,000 a year from the Senate Republicans’ health bill while middle-income families would get about $260, according to a new analysis. The analysis was done by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. It found that half of the tax cuts would go to families making more than $500,000 a year.

► In today’s NY Times — The health care hoax has been exposed, Senator McConnell (editorial) — Sen. Mitch McConnell hoped that keeping his wretched bill secret until the last minute would make it easier for him to railroad fellow Republicans. The facts the majority leader had hoped to suppress came back to bite him on Monday when the CBO released a detailed review of the bill that confirmed what governors, doctors and indeed the American public had been saying for days: The bill is a cruel hoax that would help the wealthiest Americans at the expense of the poorest.

► From TPM — Poll: Just 17% of Americans approve of GOP health caretax cut plan — Since the bill was released last week, just 17 percent of Americans are enthused about the Senate Republican’s Obamacare repeal bill, 55 percent disapprove, and about a quarter of those surveyed said they didn’t know enough about it to form an opinion.

► In today’s NY Times — How health costs would soar for older Americans under the Senate plan — A 64-year-old at nearly every income level would have to pay a much larger share of income to buy insurance that covers a smaller share of her medical bills. Plus, the CBO report predicted that about half of states would eliminate rules requiring insurance plans to cover a minimum, standard set of benefits, such as mental health treatment and prescription drugs. That means people would be required to pay for substantial parts of their care out of their own pockets.

► From TPM — A delay won’t solve the Senate GOP’s deep divide on health care — Republicans acknowledged that deep ideological divides remain, and that any changes to the bill made to win the votes of hardline conservatives like Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Rand Paul (R-KY) would invariably lose those from Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).

► From HuffPost — Elizabeth Warren calls for Democrats to embrace single-payer healthcare system — President Obama “tried to move us forward with health care coverage by using a conservative model that came from one of the conservative think tanks that had been advanced by a Republican governor in Massachusetts,” Warren said, referring to Mitt Romney. “Now it’s time for the next step. And the next step is single payer.” Her comments represent a shift to her position on the U.S. health care system.

TODAY’S MUST-READ

► From the U.S. News & World Report — Save Obamacare, save my life. — My name is Laura Packard, and a few months ago I was a healthy person with a nagging cough. I finally went back to urgent care to get more pneumonia medication, a couple of days before a scheduled trip to New York and Washington D.C. And then I was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. I am self-employed (have been off and on for a decade now), and I have Obamacare as my health insurance. I’m single, so there is no fallback plan. There’s no employer plan. Just me and my Obamacare exchange basic plan. The kind of cancer I have, Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, can be cured – even in stage 4, which is the worst of the worst. My oncologist says there’s a 90 percent cure rate. Obamacare is going to help save me – if I can keep my health insurance.

The various versions of health care reform being discussed in Washington D.C. terrify me and my new cancer friends. Getting rid of lifetime and/or annual limits? That means many of us will die when we hit those caps and can no longer afford treatment. Getting rid of pre-existing condition protections? Many of us will die, because we won’t be insurable anymore. Allowing insurers to remove essential health benefits (such as chemotherapy, or hospitalization, or many of the drugs we need to stay alive) means many of us will die, because our insurance won’t cover our treatment anymore.

This is not an academic question for me, because I am undergoing chemotherapy right now. I may need radiation after, or if this fails, immunotherapy. Will I be able to get affordable insurance next year, or will I die?

The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.

Short URL: http://www.thestand.org/?p=58914

Posted by David Groves
on Jun 28 2017. Filed under DAILY LINKS.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.